FAQ

We provide transportation to and from our land from anywhere in Pucallpa.

Our priority is to provide a safe and isolated space to take care of any and all needs while you focus on your samá and connection. For the safety of everyone on the land, there is a full time day guard as well as two full time night guards on duty to reduce risks and assist with any type of emergency. There is also private transport available on site if needed.

Yoxán Manuela and Yoxán Robi and their assistants are available at any time through arranged meetings or you may come to the kitchen and dining area to pass on an urgent message. For immediate emergencies, remain calm and you can find a whistle hanging in your house to alert Yoxán Manuela and/or Yoxán Robi and other family members. You can also simply call out for help.

All the paths are maintained to provide safe walkways, and, as we are in the jungle, caution is advised when walking around to avoid a potential encounter with a wild animal.

Yoxán Manuela and Yoxán Robi highly recommend turning off all phones and electronic devices and keeping them off, if you are partaking in samá. If you’d like, we can take away your phone and electronic devices during the duration of your samá. 

There are pockets of cellular signal on the land if you need to communicate to anyone prior to or after the samá or in the event of emergencies. For emergencies or periodic updates to family and/or friends, messages can be relayed by one of Jakon Rate’s assistants, however it is recommended to wait until the end of the samá period for any contact with your electronic devices, or with the outside world.

At any given time, at least one of three working facilitators will be on-site to support you. Introductory guidance and individual consultations will take place over the first two days, and additional consultations can be scheduled anytime at your request and the availability of Yoxán Manuela and Yoxán Robi.

You and Yoxán Manuela and/or Yoxán Robi can decide which master plant will be best for your samá through written or spoken correspondence and/or private consultation when you first arrive. Yoxán Manuela and Yoxán Robi often suggest that one should make their decision on which plant they wish to connect with in traditional samá as it is a very personal process that requires commitment from the student.

If it is your first time dieting with one of these plants, Yoxán Manuela and Yoxán Robi will only allow you to formally begin a samá with one new plant, for at least one moon cycle (this could also be a 14-day samá followed by 14 days of rest) before opening a second samá with another plant. This is done to ensure the samá connection is made and to avoid confusion from multiple energies. She will also help you to balance any previous samá connections that are part of your own energetic field.

A woman’s moon time is a great time of shedding and releasing of the previous cycle’s energies. She is closely connected to her power source and the energies can be overpowering or disrupting to others in diet. During samá, dieters are so open and sensitive that we want to respect each individual’s space and we ask that women on their moon remain in isolation. During the first 48 hours (2 days), women are unable to attend the ceremonies and all food will be brought to the woman’s tambo. Once 48 hours have passed, she will be able to re-enter into communal space and be welcome back into the ceremony. 

We recommend women coming for the minimum of two weeks to schedule their arrival as soon to the end of their jímiti as possible. Also be aware that the samá process may initiate one’s jímiti earlier than expected. We are well aware of the beauty and challenges of a woman’s jímiti and share this information so you can be assured that you will be supported at all times; also, to help you make the best possible decision on when to arrive and begin your samá.

The staples of a traditional diet for the Shipibo-Konibo while in samá have been one or two small boquichico fish grilled together with one or two small green plantains (grilled while still inside the peel). They would also make a drink from the grilled plantains for variety in texture. The idea is to eat only what is needed to sustain oneself; no more, no less, no distractions.

In modern times, with the influence of western pallets, it has been largely a trial-by-error process of seeing which other foods can be invited into the samá. This is largely due more to the desires of western students than their true needs. Therefore, finding the right diet can be a process in itself.

Yoxán Manuela and Yoxán Robi ask that their non-vegetarian students follow a strict traditional-style diet of:

• Three types of grilled fish: boquichico (boé), doncella (bawín), and acarahuazú (máín) 
• Grilled green plantains (paránta xoó xói)
• Grilled cassava (átsa xói)
• Chicken eggs (átapa báchi)

For vegetarians, we can provide the following:

• Rice, quinoa, lentils
• Grilled green plantains (paránta xoó xói)
• Grilled cassava (átsa xói)
• Raw or Grilled Vegetables:
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Carrot
  • Beet root
  • Green beans
  • Cabbage
  • Celery

We are no longer serving chapo to payanti or samá students.

Note: If you are not vegetarian, we strongly recommend you follow the traditional food diet recommended by Yoxán Manuela and Yoxán Robi (see above). If you choose not to do so, we will provide the vegetarian options for you.

Please let us know if any allergies or intolerances exist prior to your arrival so that we may be fully prepared to meet your dietary needs accordingly. We will adjust all meals for specific dietary intolerances and needs.

Absolutely. You are more than welcome to take part in what is called payanti, a period of physical and energetic cleansing, and participate in traditional Shipibo ceremonies with Yoxán Manuela and Yoxán Robi on a weekly basis. See our program options for details. 

• Commitment, healthy humility, and healthy humor

• Comfortable light cotton layers for ceremony. (It is common to experience extremes of cold and hot in the same night.)

• Long sleeved shirts

• Long pants

• A sweatshirt or sweater for cool nights

• A reusable water bottle

• A headlamp with a red light 

• A wrist watch (analog only) to be able to tell the time if you’d like to do so. If you want, we can buy you an analog watch for 40 soles.

• A Clipper refillable lighter (we have gas available for refills) or any other type of lighter

• A notebook, pencils, pens, colors

• Craft materials (embroidery, crochet, woodcarving) if you use them

• Musical instruments if you use them

Yes. Please bring extra cash (in Peruvian soles) when you arrive. We recommend at least 100 Peruvian soles per week (4 weeks = S/. 400.00). This will be a refundable deposit to purchase extra items for you during your stay, if needed. You will also have the opportunity to buy traditional Shipibo-Konibo textiles from the family collective of artisans, who will organize periodic markets for you to see.

Follow this link to request your dates. After you request dates, you will begin a screening, assessment, and preparation process.